my new baby... AKA The Café

[James_O]

James are you checking and maintaining your alk, cal and mag? If not your a braver man than me as I haven't had the guts to try them until I get those specific parameters locked in.

Nope. To be honest, haven’t tested anything in over a month.

The hammer and Duncan are doing great.

Is this another thing people will get irritated at me for? ;Facepalm;Cyclops

 

[James_O]

Happens to be one of my favorite songs.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

I just can't.

 

[James_O]

Yeah I probably could do some torches right now but I'm waiting for @MERKEY to get a saw and start popping some heads off. I'm after some very specific torches. Particularly every single one @MERKEY has in his garden hahaha

I hear torches are more finicky than hammers, but I could be wrong.

Maybe start with a small branching hammer?

I honestly didn’t believe in myself, and I thought it would die in the first few days. But NOPE! It’s still alive and well.

I do live in Kentucky, so maybe my water is good? No idea.

 

[James_O]

I just can't.

 

[LRT]

Nope. To be honest, haven’t tested anything in over a month.

The hammer and Duncan are doing great.

Is this another thing people will get irritated at me for? ;Facepalm;Cyclops

James i was hoping you wouldn't take me that way. I'm only offering advice I wish I would have gotten and more listened to myself. Just trying to help out youngster.
Now let's get that tank cleaned up stat
When you get back of course

 

[elorablue]

Nope. To be honest, haven’t tested anything in over a month.

The hammer and Duncan are doing great.

Is this another thing people will get irritated at me for? ;Facepalm;Cyclops

James, I think it's very important to do regular testing for new tanks. I test everything regularly. Nitrate, Phosphate, Alk and PH every 4 days, Calcium and Magnesium every 7 days, Salinity roughly every 4 days.
You have to remember, as new tank owners our maintenance and needs are very different than those folks on here who have many years of experience and serious skills. A lot of them can tell what their levels are just by looking at the tank. For me, this is aspirational stuff, but I'm nowhere near that level yet and neither are you.
Plus I find regular testing keeps me in tune with my aquarium. I'm not chasing numbers but my goal is to be able to "know" when something is off without testing, and the only way to learn that is by testing and observation. I would suggest signing up for Aquatic Log and track everything and keep detailed notes. It's actually fun believe it or not.
Just my 0.02 young dude. It's up to you.

 

[Jaden9933]

So I was going to remove the black widow nem and get her in her own tank. But then she did this so she is not going anywhere Unless she started walking again. @Eagle_Steve

My GBTA moved from the top center of the tank to the island in the bottom left corner! I have no idea how it got there but it didn’t hurt a single thing in the way and has been there since. I’m on my way to LAX right now to go to Vegas for three days so I guess we’ll see where it’s at when I get back…yikes

 

[sfin52]

My GBTA moved from the top center of the tank to the island in the bottom left corner! I have no idea how it got there but it didn’t hurt a single thing in the way and has been there since. I’m on my way to LAX right now to go to Vegas for three days so I guess we’ll see where it’s at when I get back…yikes

When they are crawling around they my nick but not really harm. Its when they settle in for the long haul the damage starts. Just my observations. All I observed are bta rfa and mini maxi so all bets are off for the other type

 

[Eagle_Steve]

Not a nem spam? ;Nailbiting;Drool

There are 40 nems or so in the last pic of the full tub. They are just nps, so don’t glow lol.

 

[LRT]

James, I think it's very important to do regular testing for new tanks. I test everything regularly. Nitrate, Phosphate, Alk and PH every 4 days, Calcium and Magnesium every 7 days, Salinity roughly every 4 days.
You have to remember, as new tank owners our maintenance and needs are very different than those folks on here who have many years of experience and serious skills. A lot of them can tell what their levels are just by looking at the tank. For me, this is aspirational stuff, but I'm nowhere near that level yet and neither are you.
Plus I find regular testing keeps me in tune with my aquarium. I'm not chasing numbers but my goal is to be able to "know" when something is off without testing, and the only way to learn that is by testing and observation. I would suggest signing up for Aquatic Log and track everything and keep detailed notes. It's actually fun believe it or not.
Just my 0.02 young dude. It's up to you.

Well said and for the record I feel like I'm just barely getting there with most of this myself.
I stole the 5 micron bag trick from @sfin52. Check out that excellence badge..
I actually think its extremely important especially in new tank to allow water column to mature and a 5 micron bag will get you there real fast. Removal of whats not wanted and maintaining what is is extremely important at new tank stage and the only way to help get that balance established.

 

[Reefing_addiction]

James, I think it's very important to do regular testing for new tanks. I test everything regularly. Nitrate, Phosphate, Alk and PH every 4 days, Calcium and Magnesium every 7 days, Salinity roughly every 4 days.
You have to remember, as new tank owners our maintenance and needs are very different than those folks on here who have many years of experience and serious skills. A lot of them can tell what their levels are just by looking at the tank. For me, this is aspirational stuff, but I'm nowhere near that level yet and neither are you.
Plus I find regular testing keeps me in tune with my aquarium. I'm not chasing numbers but my goal is to be able to "know" when something is off without testing, and the only way to learn that is by testing and observation. I would suggest signing up for Aquatic Log and track everything and keep detailed notes. It's actually fun believe it or not.
Just my 0.02 young dude. It's up to you.

@James_O what they said.
If you want to see growth out of your hammer and your Other corals you’re going to need to be able to maintain certain numbers. Things like calcium alkalinity magnesium play big rolls in growth rates of all corals.

Part of the reason you have GHA and other nuisance algae because you have high nitrates. There’s a good chance that when you test you won’t see those numbers that high and that is because the nuisance algae you have in your tank is eating up that stuff so if you don’t lower it it’ll keep eating up that stuff and you’ll always have that nuisance algae. With smaller tanks especially it is best to test regularly once a week or even twice a month, just you need to test. Small tanks things can go bad and they go bad really quick. And as we all know unfortunately good stuff happens really slow in Reef tanks

When I had my 16 gallon I tested more frequently. Now that I have a 75 gallon and lots of LPS and other stony corals I am testing just it’s infrequent and hit or miss when things are happy I Kinda just let it go but still in my tank things can go bad really quick.

Good husbandry is brought by Consistency. Water changes testing those types of things

 

[Jaden9933]

Th

When they are crawling around they my nick but not really harm. Its when they settle in for the long haul the damage starts. Just my observations. All I observed are bta rfa and mini maxi so all bets are off for the other type

This was my guess! I had seen it brush against some of my Rhodactis which were unbothered. Previous to seeing that, I thought any contact with them was an instant death, due to what I had read on a few forums of people experiences with them. Turns out, they don’t have the Midas touch I was expecting! That’s what led me to keep it in my 20gal. Well…that, and the fact that it lost all of its green color and looked like it was dying in my 10gal (way too new of a tank). Have you ever had one lose color, then get it back over time?

 

[James_O]

James i was hoping you wouldn't take me that way. I'm only offering advice I wish I would have gotten and more listened to myself. Just trying to help out youngster.
Now let's get that tank cleaned up stat
When you get back of course

James, I think it's very important to do regular testing for new tanks. I test everything regularly. Nitrate, Phosphate, Alk and PH every 4 days, Calcium and Magnesium every 7 days, Salinity roughly every 4 days.
You have to remember, as new tank owners our maintenance and needs are very different than those folks on here who have many years of experience and serious skills. A lot of them can tell what their levels are just by looking at the tank. For me, this is aspirational stuff, but I'm nowhere near that level yet and neither are you.
Plus I find regular testing keeps me in tune with my aquarium. I'm not chasing numbers but my goal is to be able to "know" when something is off without testing, and the only way to learn that is by testing and observation. I would suggest signing up for Aquatic Log and track everything and keep detailed notes. It's actually fun believe it or not.
Just my 0.02 young dude. It's up to you.

Please don’t stop giving me advice, I sure need it!

The two big things that discouraging me from testing, is that it takes so long and the test kits I have are inaccurate color match or mix to color tests.

I also have no clue how I would dose alk/calcium?

I am extremely new to reefing, so I don’t know any of this stuff. :/

 

[James_O]

@James_O what they said.
If you want to see growth out of your hammer and your Other corals you’re going to need to be able to maintain certain numbers. Things like calcium alkalinity magnesium play big rolls in growth rates of all corals.

I definitely do want to see growth.

How do I manage these levels? Is it a chemical I add to the water? Or?

Part of the reason you have GHA and other nuisance algae because you have high nitrates. There’s a good chance that when you test you won’t see those numbers that high and that is because the nuisance algae you have in your tank is eating up that stuff so if you don’t lower it it’ll keep eating up that stuff and you’ll always have that nuisance algae. With smaller tanks especially it is best to test regularly once a week or even twice a month, just you need to test. Small tanks things can go bad and they go bad really quick. And as we all know unfortunately good stuff happens really slow in Reef tanks

Also, how do I get rid of the nitrates? I hate algae, so I really want to get this figured out and exterminated. :/

 

[LRT]

@James_O what they said.
If you want to see grows out of your hammer and your Other corals you’re going to need to be able to maintain certain numbers. Things like calcium alkalinity magnesium play big rolls in growth rates of all corals.

Part of the reason you have GHA and other nuisance allergies because you have high nitrates. There’s a good chance that when you test you won’t see those numbers at high and that is because the nuisance algae you have in your tank is eating up that stuff so if you don’t lower it it’ll keep eating up that stuff and you’ll always have that nuisance algae. With smaller tanks especially it is best to test regularly once a week twice a month just you need to test. Small tanks things can go bad and then go bad really quick. And as we all know unfortunately good stuff happens really slow in Reef tanks tanks

When I had my 16 gallon I tested more frequently. Now that I have a 75 gallon and lots of LPS and other stony corals I am testing just it’s infrequent and hit or miss when things are happy I Kinda just let it go but still in my tank things can go bad really quick.

Good husbandry is brought by Consistency. Water changes testing those types of things

I wish I could get that 300 hours and 6 months of my life back from last year lol. Never would have went through it if I had only listened.
Keep and maintain nutrient levels.
Remove frag plugs and dip corals.
Don't chase numbers but keep things diligently maintained and consistent.
Stability is key.
Listen to your gut not your lazy self.

If you think im not still vacuuming my floor through 5 micron bag at least twice a week, cleaning plugs, discs with buffer attachment for dremel and tiles daily, dosing what needs to be dosed, checking what needs to be checked..
And cleaning some more you would be highly mistaken lol

 

[LRT]

Please don’t stop giving me advice, I sure need it!

The two big things that discouraging me from testing, is that it takes so long and the test kits I have are inaccurate color match or mix to color tests.

I also have no clue how I would dose alk/calcium?

I am extremely new to reefing, so I don’t know any of this stuff. :/

All good. No better time than now to start learning. I'm using all for reef as backbone dosing. I'm having hard time with kits myself being colorblind. Actually have all the hanna kits just to lazy or adhd to actually use them(gonna change that this week) out of pure stubbornness.
Baby steps man. Its easier to eat pizza one slice at a time I guess.

 

[Jaden9933]

@James_O what they said.
If you want to see growth out of your hammer and your Other corals you’re going to need to be able to maintain certain numbers. Things like calcium alkalinity magnesium play big rolls in growth rates of all corals.

Part of the reason you have GHA and other nuisance algae because you have high nitrates. There’s a good chance that when you test you won’t see those numbers that high and that is because the nuisance algae you have in your tank is eating up that stuff so if you don’t lower it it’ll keep eating up that stuff and you’ll always have that nuisance algae. With smaller tanks especially it is best to test regularly once a week or even twice a month, just you need to test. Small tanks things can go bad and they go bad really quick. And as we all know unfortunately good stuff happens really slow in Reef tanks

When I had my 16 gallon I tested more frequently. Now that I have a 75 gallon and lots of LPS and other stony corals I am testing just it’s infrequent and hit or miss when things are happy I Kinda just let it go but still in my tank things can go bad really quick.

Good husbandry is brought by Consistency. Water changes testing those types of things

@James_O @Reefing_addiction I more than agree with this. I have a 20gal and do 2-3 30% water changes with Red Sea Pro Salt every week. It seems obsessive, but it keeps everything (including trace elements) at a very steady level hence the reason for my corals recently having a huge increase in both color, and in their rate of growth! Even with these frequent water changes, I keep phosphates and nitrates slightly elevated to avoid dinos and cyano, but not enough to have GHA outbreaks. Even with the constant water changes, I test often and keep a log of it. There’s no need, because nothing ever changes without me wanting it to, but it’s still better to be sure, than to think your coral looks happy before you go to bed, only to wake up to it melting away. At least IME and IMO. I’m 19 and new to this though so by no means am I saying this is the best way, just my way.

 

[sp1187]

@James_O what they said.
If you want to see growth out of your hammer and your Other corals you’re going to need to be able to maintain certain numbers. Things like calcium alkalinity magnesium play big rolls in growth rates of all corals.

Part of the reason you have GHA and other nuisance algae because you have high nitrates. There’s a good chance that when you test you won’t see those numbers that high and that is because the nuisance algae you have in your tank is eating up that stuff so if you don’t lower it it’ll keep eating up that stuff and you’ll always have that nuisance algae. With smaller tanks especially it is best to test regularly once a week or even twice a month, just you need to test. Small tanks things can go bad and they go bad really quick. And as we all know unfortunately good stuff happens really slow in Reef tanks

When I had my 16 gallon I tested more frequently. Now that I have a 75 gallon and lots of LPS and other stony corals I am testing just it’s infrequent and hit or miss when things are happy I Kinda just let it go but still in my tank things can go bad really quick.

Good husbandry is brought by Consistency. Water changes testing those types of things

why don't you start with
"once upon a time" next time.

 

[elorablue]

@James_O what they said.
If you want to see growth out of your hammer and your Other corals you’re going to need to be able to maintain certain numbers. Things like calcium alkalinity magnesium play big rolls in growth rates of all corals.

Part of the reason you have GHA and other nuisance algae because you have high nitrates. There’s a good chance that when you test you won’t see those numbers that high and that is because the nuisance algae you have in your tank is eating up that stuff so if you don’t lower it it’ll keep eating up that stuff and you’ll always have that nuisance algae. With smaller tanks especially it is best to test regularly once a week or even twice a month, just you need to test. Small tanks things can go bad and they go bad really quick. And as we all know unfortunately good stuff happens really slow in Reef tanks

When I had my 16 gallon I tested more frequently. Now that I have a 75 gallon and lots of LPS and other stony corals I am testing just it’s infrequent and hit or miss when things are happy I Kinda just let it go but still in my tank things can go bad really quick.

Good husbandry is brought by Consistency. Water changes testing those types of things

just for the record ‘they’ is a he. Name’s Nick Probably should have mentioned that 300 pages ago lol